A wise man named Mengzi once told this story:

A long, long time ago, there was a farmer who lived with his son in the State of Song. However, they weren’t musical. They were hardworking and rarely sang. The farmer was particularly serious. His closest neighbor had even called him a worrier.

Once the weather was good, the farmer and his son planted rice together. They were tired and proud when all the seeds had been planted. The farmer hoped they had done  everything perfectly.

He wanted to watch the rice grow. Starting at sunrise every day, he stood in the flooded fields, waiting. He wondered if the small green sprout near the boulder had been there an hour ago. He got excited. Maybe it was a new plant! When he looked closer, he saw that it was an old plant. What a disappointment. He went back to watching the fields. He waved his arms to scare birds. Many days passed just in this way.

Soon, he began to get worried. It seemed that the shoots had not grown for several days. They looked the same as they had the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that too.

He decided to stop at his closest neighbor’s house. As they drank tea, the farmer asked the question that had been bothering him. “By the way, how is your rice growing?” he asked. “I am worried about mine. It seems to have stopped growing!”

“Oh, my rice is growing green and healthy!” replied the neighbor. “I am very happy with the progress. Nature will provide.”

This conversation did not put the farmer’s mind at ease. He quickly returned to his fields to check on his rice. It looked like it still hadn’t grown. Not even a millimeter! He started to panic. He looked again. Was the rice even shorter than yesterday? Perhaps there was something wrong with his rice!

“What if my crop never grows?” he thought aloud. He began pacing back and forth on the side of the rice field. “I must find a way to help my shoots grow faster.”

When he got home that night, he told his son about the fields. “The rice does not seem to be growing,” the farmer complained. “What should I do to help it grow?”

“Dad,” replied the son, “I think you need to wait. The rice is growing, you just don’t notice it! Have patience. We will harvest the rice in the late summer.”

Not satisfied with this answer, the farmer said, “I don’t think so, Son. I think the rice really does need my help. I must do something!”

The next morning, the farmer awakened with an idea. “This is so smart!”

he congratulated himself. He rushed out to the rice fields. He went from shoot to shoot, pulling them each a few inches upward.

He finally finished as the sun was setting. He was tired from the full day of work. But he was happy that he had finished his plan. As he entered the house, he said, “Son, I did so much today! I worked very hard and am tired. But it is worth the pain to help our rice shoots grow faster.”

“What did you do?” asked the son. He didn’t wait for an answer.

He immediately ran out to the fields. He feared his father had done something foolish. There, he found all the rice had withered and died. He was devastated. All their hard work had gone to waste, and there was no crop left to be saved.

By telling this story, the wise man Mengzi wanted people to understand that they should respect the laws of nature. Because the farmer was impatient, he tried to change nature’s natural pace. But instead of helping the rice, he accidentally destroyed it. Even though the rice grew slowly, he should have waited. With patience, his rice would have grown eventually, and he would have enjoyed a good harvest.

The EndQuestion:?

Have you ever been impatient with nature? Why, and what did you do?
核心詞匯

flood v. 淹沒，澆灌水于

sprout n. 新芽，嫩枝boulder n. 卵石

shoot n. 苗

bother v. 煩擾

millimeter n. 毫米

panic v. 驚慌失措

pace v. 踱步

back and forth 來回地，反復地

patience n. 耐心

harvest v. 收獲

worth prep. 具有……的價值，值得……

immediately adv. 立即

wither v. 枯萎

devastate v. 壓倒，使垮掉，使混亂

destroy v. 毀壞

eventually adv. 最終

以下翻譯來自百度翻譯：一位名叫孟子的智者曾經講過這樣一個故事：很久很久以前，宋國有一個農民，他和兒子住在一起。然而，它們不是音樂。他們工作努力，很少唱歌。這個農民特別嚴肅。他最親近的鄰居甚至稱他為憂患者。天氣一好，農夫和兒子就一起種水稻。當所有的種子都種下時，他們既累又驕傲。農夫希望他們把每件事都做得很完美。他想看著水稻生長。從每天日出開始，他站在被洪水淹沒的田地里等待。他想知道巨石附近的小綠芽一小時前是否還在那里。他很激動。也許這是一種新植物！當他走近看時，他發現那是一株老植物。真令人失望。他回去看田野。他揮動手臂嚇唬鳥。許多天就這樣過去了。不久，他開始擔心起來。這些嫩芽似乎已經好幾天沒長了。他們看起來和前一天一樣，前一天，前一天也一樣。他決定在他最近的鄰居家停下來。他們喝茶時，農夫問了一個一直困擾他的問題。”“順便問一下，你們的水稻長得怎么樣？”他問道我擔心我的。它似乎已經停止生長了！”“哦，我的米長得又綠又健康！”鄰居回答說我對這一進展感到非常高興。自然會提供。”這番談話并沒有使農夫安心。他很快回到田里去檢查他的稻子。看起來它還沒有長大。一毫米也沒有！他開始驚慌失措。他又看了看。米飯比昨天還要短嗎？也許他的米飯有問題！“如果我的莊稼永遠長不出來呢？”他大聲想。他開始在稻田邊來回踱步。”我必須想辦法讓我的嫩芽長得更快。”當晚回到家時，他告訴兒子有關田地的事。”農民抱怨道：“大米似乎沒有長出來。”我應該做些什么來幫助它成長？”“爸爸，”兒子回答，“我想你需要等一等。水稻正在生長，你只是沒有注意到而已！耐心點。我們將在夏末收割水稻。”農夫對這個回答不滿意，說：“我不這么認為，孩子。我想大米確實需要我的幫助。我必須做點什么！”第二天早上，農夫醒來時想到了一個主意。”這太聰明了！”他祝賀自己。他沖向稻田。他從一個鏡頭切換到另一個鏡頭，把每個鏡頭向上拉了幾英寸。太陽落山時，他終于完成了。他整天工作累了。但他很高興他已經完成了他的計劃。當他走進房子時，他說：“兒子，我今天做了那么多！我工作很努力，很累。但是，幫助我們的稻苗更快生長是值得的。”“你做了什么？”兒子問。他沒有等回答。他立刻跑向田野。他擔心他的父親做了一些愚蠢的事。在那里，他發現所有的大米都枯萎了。他非常震驚。他們所有的辛勞都白費了，再也沒有莊稼可以挽救了。通過講述這個故事，智者孟子希望人們理解他們應該尊重自然法則。因為農夫不耐煩，他試圖改變大自然的自然節奏。但他并沒有幫助大米，而是意外地把它毀掉了。即使稻子長得很慢，他也應該等待。如果有耐心，他的稻子最終會長成，他會獲得豐收。